If you're leaving to buy a suit for under $500, keep some things in mind:
- Make sure it fits correctly in the shoulders when you try it on. If it doesn't, the suit will never fit well — in spite of what the salesman tells you.
- It pays to have your suit distorted by a good tailor. After all, you're not a fitting mannequin — your suit wants to be tailored to your body.
- At the least, have the sleeves condensed. They should end at the pivot of your wrist so a sliver of dress-shirt hit peaks out.
- Have the length of the pants distorted. Most guys walk approximately with their pants too baggy, or as they say in the dressmaking biz, with too much "break."
- If you're a slimmer guy, contain the sides of the jacket in use in a bit, so the suit contours to your trunk.
- Identify what to wear with your suit. If not you're a stylish sure dude, keep it easy: light colored shirt, dark tie. It worked for Cary Grant and Clooney, it'll job for you.
- And you know how to never go wrong, with a hard white dress shirt. Now ask John Edwards or Barack Obama.
- Summer's on the method, go buy physically a cotton suit. They're crucial in the hot-weather months, and now more than ever, they're accessible in a variety of styles, from classic khaki to pinstripe business.
- How do you mind for your suit? Dry clean it as rarely as possible, in orders to protect the integrity of the fabric. If need be, have it efficiently steam pressed to remove wrinkles.